ECHA released an update in evaluating the chemical substances which helped speed up the assessment. This update is evaluating the chemicals which belong to a similar chemical category as a group.

Bjorn Hansen, ECHA’s Executive Director says: “We have a responsibility towards Europe’s citizens to make sure that chemicals data is correct and up to date. By checking chemicals in groups, we continue our assessment at full speed. Companies also need to speed up and review their registration dossiers. I welcome industry’s voluntary action plans on updating dossiers which many companies have already joined.”

Substance evaluation is done by the Member States to clarify if the use of a substance poses risks to people or the environment. ECHA adopted 18 substance evaluation results, requesting more information to assess the safety of substances of feasible concern.

ECHA’s evaluation statistics overview presents a full breakdown of the numbers. The Agency has simplified its recommendations for companies on how they can improve their registration data.

Cooperation with industry

• ECHA and the European Commission’s REACH Evaluation Joint Action Plan forecasts actions for industry: to frequently review information on their chemicals and to update their registrations when needed, also by causing new information.

• ECHA supports industry organizations in evolving voluntary testing strategies. This benefits companies to avoid unnecessary animal testing and costs. Also, they can meet the legal requirements for their registration dossiers without the necessity to test each substance separately.

According to ECHA In this increased transparency, it publishes for the very first time a list of the substances evaluated in 2020. This list includes full details on the information requests that have been issued to companies as part of ECHA’s decisions.

Reference: https://echa.europa.eu/